AHA Update: Life’s Simple 7™ Now Life’s Essential 8™ After Addition of Sleep Metric
In 2010, the American Heart Association (AHA) created a checklist to identify specific health behaviors and factors that drive optimal heart and brain health. The original Life’s Simple 7™ included seven core areas that contribute to optimal heart health: nicotine exposure, physical activity, diet, weight, blood glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure. This week, drawing on […]
Heart Health Month: Sleep Disorders and Atrial Fibrillation
Lifestyle factors and their modifications have long been established as critical elements for the successful prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disease. In addition to dietary habits and physical activity levels, sleep patterns are also a key behavior to consider in interventions. Sleep-disordered breathing, insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and other sleep disorders are known risk factors […]
Importance of Good Nights Sleep
Elizabethan author, Thomas Dekker, who once wrote that “Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” Medical research appears to agree; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Sleep Foundation, 35.2% of adults in the United States sleep less than seven hours a day. Stressful lifestyles, […]
Linking Sleep Disturbance & Obesity
Recent research corroborates theories regarding the link between sleep disturbance and a range of conditions, including obesity. In the journal Nature Genetics, a group of scientists recently published evidence from a study that assessed lifestyle and environmental factors, in addition to inherited traits that affect sleep disturbance and duration—ultimately concluding that areas of the genome […]
